The intermodal industry has been streamlining to meet shipper's demands for quality service. Equipment manufacturers, truck load carriers and railroad lines play important roles in this process of rationization. Rationization, in the intermodal industry, involves the process of optimizing routes, rate services and equipment.
Efforts to simplify and expedite handling for rail and truck carriers have been attempted in the past. For example, there have been efforts to develop universal trailers, containers and attachments, to allow trucking companies, shippers and the railroad to work together to flourish.
The benchmark of intermodal service combines the road effectiveness of truck transport with the cost effectiveness of double-stacked rail transport. Service and price, not mode, are strong considerations for shippers. Shippers also have the following goals: on-time delivery, complete deliveries, reduced transit times to meet a predetermined order cycle schedule; reduced inventory with more inventory turns; and flexibility.
Improvements in intermodal transportation can effect ocean carriers, as well as rail and truckload carriers. Recently, intermodal traffic has become more dispersed, and less concentrated around the ports. Thus, there is an increased demand for efficient service and improved equipment.
Choosing the right mode for the right load in this competitive environment, is now becoming more important than ever. A shipper's delivery requirements are considered along with availability of shipment mode over-the-road and intermodal. Equipment availability, train schedules, distances and how to balance freight lines are some of the factors to be considered.
There is also a need to allow railroads and other transportation modes to work together to develop efficiencies, such as with new equipment, layouts and systems, scheduling techniques and the like to allow shippers to be able to choose transport products via railroad, truck or a combination of both, without losing productivity, while maximizing weight and cube advantages. Accordingly, new technologies are needed and being created, such as systems and hoisting equipment, that will expedite the transportation of containers and solve many of the problems plaguing this industry.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved hoisting equipment, containers, and container handles, which overcomes most if not all of the problems facing this and related industries.
Continuing, freight transport continues to grow at a rapid pace, especially in the heavy-rail sector. Severe bottlenecks are seen in existing rail transfer terminals, which result in freight delays. Most such terminals have little or no right-of-way available for terminal expansion. Inefficiencies associated with moving containers from terminal to terminal by truck, to transfer between long-distance rail carriers (corridors), introduce significant delays, costs and inefficiencies. Further, truck activity on urban and suburban freeways cause increased fuel consumption and pollution emissions.
In connection with transportation logistics, market forces are driving the development of new technologies to improve the efficiency of freight transfer operations at rail terminals. A rail ThruPort, which is analogous to an airports, refers to a rail facility where Class I railroads will be able to dock and exchange freight with a high degree of automation. This transfer method can increase freight transfer efficiency. Additionally, ThruPorts can help to significantly reduce on road truck traffic associated with the current practice of moving containers, typically across town, from terminal to terminal, to make a corridor transfer from the east to the west, for example. As used herein, a ThruPort refers to an efficient operational solution in connection with a rail facility, whereby an overhead crane can be used to shuffle containers from train to train in a single step.
In connection with transportation logistics, there is a need for the development of new technologies to improve the efficiency of freight transfer operations at rail terminals.